Brad Thor - State Of The Union

“Norseman,” continued president Rutledge, “you received my message about the condition of the chessboard?”

“Yes, sir. But I don’t understand. What happened?”

“Somehow, the other side knew where our devices were hidden. We sent in teams to prep them and get them ready for transport, but they were already gone.”

“Gone?” said Harvath.

“Yes, all of them have been stolen.”

“Do we have any leads?”

“We’re going back over satellite imagery, but we’re not holding out much hope of getting them back. The Russians would have been very careful in covering their tracks.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“We’ve developed a plan, which I pray to God will work, called Operation Minotaur,” replied the president.

“Operation Minotaur?” repeated Harvath.

“Yes. BenchPress has the file and he will explain everything to you.”

“Sir, what about our remaining operative in the field? He still has one last device.”

“Unfortunately, that man is of no use to us anymore. We need to pull him from the game before he becomes a greater liability. BenchPress will explain that as well.” There was a pause on the line as the president took a deep breath and said, “Things are very tense back here. The time is drawing nigh for us all gentlemen and we have no other options available. This is it. We either win or we lose. The fate of America is in your hands. Don’t let us down.” There was a click followed by a hiss of static as the president terminated the connection.

Morrell looked at DeWolfe and, referring to the status of the transmission, asked, “Are we clear?”

“We’re clear,” said DeWolfe.

“Operation Minotaur?” mouthed Harvath. “What this all about?”

“The Minotaur is a mythical creature-”

“From ancient Greece who was half man, half bull, and was confined to a labyrinth on Crete. Yeah, I know that, but what is this new op all about?” said Harvath.

“This is a little something the president and his team came up with,” responded Morrell. “The focus of this operation is going to be on the bull, and lots of it.”

Can we just back up here for a second?” asked Harvath. “Rick, start this thing from square one for me, would you?”

“Okay, from square one. The secretary of defense and the president briefed me on Operation Dark Night as well as the situation concerning the man-portable nukes we’re facing at home. Being the tactician he is, the secretary kept making military references to chess. As you probably know, the president-”

“Doesn’t play chess,” replied Harvath, finishing Morrell’s sentence for him. “He’s a poker man. We played a lot when I was on his protective detail.”

“And what’s the one thing you can do in poker that you really can’t do in chess?”

Harvath thought for a moment and then said, “Bluff.”

“Right again. Though there are some feints and deceptive strategies you can pull in chess, all of your pieces are out in the open for your opponent to see.”

“But all of our pieces have been knocked off the board, at least that’s what the president has said.”

“That’s true. The president green-lit a series of tactical teams to go to the European locations where our man-portable nukes were hidden, only to discover that they had all been removed.”

“By the Russians, of course.”

“That’s what we’re assuming,” replied Morrell.

“So, where’s that leave us?”

“It leaves us with only one operational nuke.”

“Frank Leighton’s,” said Harvath.

“Correct.”

“But if the Russians knew the identities of all of the other Dark Night operatives and the location of their nukes, how’d they miss Leighton?”

“We don’t think they missed him,” said Morrell.

“Wait a second. You think they not only know who Leighton is, but where he and his nuke are?”

“Yes.”

“But why would they purposely let him slip through the net?”

“He isn’t all the way through yet.”

Harvath wasn’t following. “I can understand them wanting to get their hands on Gary. He was in charge of the operation. He had knowledge that could prove valuable to them. They might have even believed he knew about more than just his own op, but Leighton doesn’t make any sense. If they let him get this far only to grab him, then…”

Morrell almost could see the light bulb go on over Harvath’s head as his voice trailed off.

“Then?” coaxed Morrell, leaning back in his chair.

“They would be catching Leighton, an American, in the act of actually trying to smuggle a nuclear device into their country,” said Harvath, the pieces beginning to tumble into place.

“And they could claim it was a covert attempt at a first strike by the United States.”

“But I’m sure we would disavow any knowledge of Leighton. It would be a tough sell, butone guy withone nukecouldn’t bring down an entire country. It would be somewhat embarrassing for us, but-” Harvath let the sentence hang in the air as he thought about it for a moment and then realizing said, “Shit.”

“What?” asked Morrell.

“If the Russians plan to blackmail us failed somehow, they’d have a huge ace up their sleeves. With ten other American-made man-portable nukes in their possession, they could lie and claim they had found them hidden all over their country. It would be no use for us to disavow Leighton. It would just look like he was the only American operative unlucky enough to get caught and that we were denying what everyone else would see as a fact. Add it all up and the Russians would have an overwhelming case against us as being the aggressors. Considering the state of international opinion against us these days, the rest of the world would probably buy the Russian story no matter what they had done to start everything.That’s why they let Leighton live.”

“That’s what we believe.”

“Then we’ve got to stop Leighton. The Russians probably have him under surveillance right now and are just waiting for him to sail into their territorial waters so they can pop him.”

“Well, you’ve uncovered theman part of the Minotaur. Now let’s get to thebull.”

As Avigliano slid three hard-shell equipment cases out of the closet and opened the lids so Harvath could see what was contained inside, Morrell continued. “Exact working replicas of the American nukes the Russians already have in their possession.”

“The beauty of it all is that they aren’t even a quarter of the weight of the real deal,” added Carlson. “One person can lift these without even breaking a sweat.”

“But that’s the thing. They aren’t real,” said Harvath. “You’ve got all the Preparation, but no H.”

“Yeah, but the Russians don’t know that,” answered DeWolfe.

“What are we planning to do, plant fake nukes all across Russia?”

“Not only are we planning to do it, we’re going to do it,” answered Morrell. “Carlson and DeWolfe will be on one team, and Avigliano and I will be on the other. We’re going to conduct a whirlwind photo tour of as much of the country and its critical infrastructure as possible.”

“They look awesome,” replied Harvath, “but there’s still only two of them.”

Morrell empty the contents of a padded manila envelope onto the table. “That’s why we have a little something I like to refer to as our force multiplier.”

Harvath examined the square metal objects. “Interchangeable serial number plates. Good move.”

“The Russians are going to enhance the photos we send them, just like we did theirs.”

“Let’s say they do buy it, where’s that put us?”